Brill Flavius Josephus Online

Flavius Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, is without a doubt the most important witness to ancient Judaism from the close of the biblical period to the aftermath of the destruction of the temple in 70 CE. After fighting against the Romans in the war of 66-73 and surrendering in the earliest phase of the campaign, he moved to Rome where he began a productive literary career. His four surviving works - Judean War, Judean Antiquities, Life, and Against Apion, in thirty Greek volumes - provide the narrative structure for interpreting the other, more fragmentary written sources and physical remains from this period. Josephus' descriptions of the Temple, the Judean countryside, Jewish-Roman relations and conflicts, and groups and institutions of ancient Judea have become indispensable for students of early Judaism, Classics, and of Christian origins alike.

The Brill series Flavius Josephus: Translation and Commentary aims to assist every serious reader of Josephus by providing a new literal translation, along with a commentary suggesting literary and historical connections. It is the first comprehensive literary-historical commentary on the works of Flavius Josephus in English.

This is the online edition of the print series. It contains all volumes and parts published in print so far (see overview below). No editorial changes have been made, with one exception: for the sake of clarity, the Greek text has been added. It is Niese's edition major: Benedikt Niese, Flavii Josephi opera (7 volumes, Berlin 1885-1895). Source text and translation are presented en face in this publication.

How to navigate this website

This online collection of Josephus' texts takes the form of a tree: starting with the four works (Judean War, Judean Antiquities, Life, and Against Apion) one can navigate to the relevant books and sections within these books. Indicated are both the separate sections within each book as introduced by William Whiston, as well as the order of lines as introduced by Benedikt Niese. The buttons at the top and the bottom of every entry enable one to go to the previous or next section, to go back to an overview of the book or to an overview of the entire work.

The editor's introduction to each separate work can be found under 'Introduction'. 'Contents' holds the original Greek text as well as commentary and interpretation. The tab 'Appendixes and Bibliographies' presents an overview of maps, excursus and appendixes to the four works.

Reviews

…this series follows a format that is uncomplicated and therefore extremely user-friendly…The first two publications of the Brill Josephus Project have adequately satisfied the publisher's promise of being the first comprehensive literary-historical commentary on the works of Flavius Josephus in English…they have established a formidable, yet highly achievable standard for subsequent volumes in the series…an indispensable source of competing critical perspectives…correctly been termed an "indispensable source for all scholarly study of Judea from about 200 BCE to 75 CE"(Mason ix).'
Dennis Stoutenburg, Journal of Biblical Literature/Review of Biblical Literature.